World church leaders call for protection of Malagasy journalists

Their statement follows growing concern for eight radio journalists and technicians detained in the Indian Ocean nation. The eight work for Radio
Fahazavana, a church-supported station in the capital, Antananarivo.
The international broadcaster, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), reported that on May 28 the group was formally charged with threatening state security. The radio station has been shut down and its equipment confiscated by government officials.
“We support the prophetic voices seeking to bring justice and reconciliation in Madagascar today,” said Clifton Kirkpatrick, president, and Setri Nyomi, general secretary of WARC, in a message sent to churches in 107 countries.
Radio Fahazavana is run by the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM), a WARC member.
“These journalists must be given full protection while under arrest and allowed a fair and free hearing,” said Nyomi.
In joining with WARC in expressing concern for the situation, Des van der Water, general secretary of the London-based Council for World Mission wrote: “We join with our friends from WARC in condemning this unfair and unjust action against the radio journalists. FJKM is a valued member of both WARC and CWM. … Above all, we pray for a peaceful solution to this current round of violence and that a common sense of humanity will prevail for the welfare of all Madagascans.”
On May 28, the head of the media office of Swiss Protestant churches and the general secretary of a Swiss church mission service delivered a letter to
Madagascar’s ambassador to Switzerland expressing surprise that the Radio Fahazavana journalists and technicians had been detained and charged with
attempting to destabilize the government.
“We have worked with these journalists for a long time,” said Michel Kocher, director of Médias-pro and Jacques Küng, general secretary of DM-Echange et Mission in their letter. “We have offered several months of training including a course in media ethics.”
Kocher and Küng requested the ambassador to transmit to Malagasy authorities their call for respect for freedom of expression in Madagascar. “We are convinced that no government gains credibility by attacking freedom of the press,” they wrote.
On May 28, the Rev. Prince Dibeela, the moderator of CWM and a member of the main governing body of the World Council of Churches, its central committee, called for an end to intimidation of innocent civilians in Madagascar, following fresh political violence, in which a pastor died and eight others went into hiding.
He said the organization condemned the events on 20 May in Antananarivo, in which rival security forces violently clashed.
On May 23, the Rev. Lala Rasendrahasina, the FJKM president urged Christians in the Indian Ocean archipelago to remain calm. The church leader said trouble started when the Religious Leaders’ Movement tried to hold a worship service at a military camp, where a group of about 30 gendarmes were protesting against the government.
Soldiers attacked the camp, killing four people and wounding another 15, according to the leaders.  Pastor Ranaivo Rivoarison died on May 23 as a
result of a gunshot wound to the chest.
“There have been threats to arrest religious leaders.  As a result, the leaders of the Religious Leaders’ Movement – eight of them – and their families have gone into hiding. Their congregations are now without pastors in this time of Pentecost,” the FJKM president said in an e-mail communication with ENI news.
Rasendrahasina said another pastor, Valisoa Rafanonerantsoa, was arrested together with five civilians. Before the arrest, he was kicked and hit several times with a rifle butt. A soldier stomped on his Bible, which fell on the ground as he knelt.
Madagascar, an island nation located in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa, has been tense since March 2009 when, following weeks of protests, the president, Marc Ravalomanana, was ousted by Andry Rajoelina, the former mayor of Antananarivo in March 2009.
About 2.5 million of Madagascar’s 21 million people belong to the FJKM, making it the country’s biggest Protestant denomination. Some political commentators said that during Ravalomanana’s time in office the lines between Church and State had been blurred.